NNPCL To Undertake A Comprehensive Review Of Operatorship Arrangements, Says Minister. By Chris Mark
NNPCL To Undertake A Comprehensive Review Of Operatorship Arrangements, Says Minister.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Oil, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri Ph.D said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd, NNPCL, to undertake a comprehensive review of all operatorship arrangements.
As he said the move is aimed at ensuring that all partnerships within the sector are aligned with the national vision of resource development and economic transformation.
This was contained in a statement by Nneamaka Okafor
SA Media and Communication to the Minister while speaking at the just concluded Nigeria Oil and Gas Energy Week, emphasizing that operators must begin to reflect the level of investment and support in their performance metrics.
The Minister further charged operators to take immediate steps to unlock value from idle assets. “Unlock dormant and untapped assets. Re-enter shut-in wells. Convert dormant licenses into measurable output,” he urged.
He said the NNPCL GCEO put to rest this when he presented a statistical graph, which showed the cash call indices, indicating that NNPCL, the national oil company, has kept to its own end of the bargain but that has not been so with some operators. The Minister therefore, called on the operators to justify Government’s investment in their various partnership.
According to him with this directive, the Government is sending a clear and uncompromising message to operators: deliver measurable value or risk a re-evaluation of your place in Nigeria’s energy future.
The Minister also made it clear that existing frameworks such as Joint Ventures (JVs) and Financial/Technical Services Agreements (FTSAs) were not created as shields for underperformance, but rather as instruments of progress.
The statement further reads “Let’s be clear: Joint Ventures and Financial/Technical Services Agreements are not weapons to hold the sector hostage,”.
“They are frameworks built on trust that you, the operator, will act in the nation’s best interest. If you cannot, it’s time to step aside or step up through partnership.”
“the Federal Government has gone above and beyond to provide the necessary enablers for oil companies to function optimally, including fiscal incentives, policy stability, and regulatory support. However, the results on the ground, particularly in terms of oil production and asset utilization, have fallen short of expectations.
“This is not business as usual,” the Minister declared. “Operators must wake up to the responsibility they hold. The era of dormant fields and underperforming assets must give way to action.”
